Baby Eggplants: The Cute Factor

The other day at Sprouts, a local grocery store, a woman saw me selecting baby eggplant. She asked, "Do you like those?" ...

Forget the Caribbean. Just Give Me Some Black Beans and Rice

The other day I received a flyer advertising a romantic Caribbean get-away. It showed a scantily clad, deliriously happy couple lounging on ...

The Secret to Amazing French Onion Soup

You know what the secret to amazing French onion soup is? Brandy. Next time you make French onion soup, skip the white wine and add brandy i...

Santa Maria-Style Barbecue

Barbecue. You know what it means, right? Are you sure? Having grown up in Rhode Island I always thought a "barbecue" referred to a...

On Our Honeymoon, I Ate a Lot of Potatoes

With our 12th wedding anniversary right around the corner, I thought I’d look up 12th year wedding gifts. The traditional gifts are silks an...

Why I Live in California Reason #2: Carrots

Despite grueling traffic, exorbitant real estate prices, and perpetual smog, Jeff and I have decided to stay in Southern California when he ...

Bulgur's 15 Minutes of Fame

Catastrophe struck the other day. My kitchen drain backed up into the bathtub. Unfortunately the last thing I had cooked and washed down the...

What's in Your Basement?

Peter John is my favorite cousin. He has a knack for saying, in a hilarious manner, what everyone else is thinking. At a family dinner he on...

It's a Bird. It's a Plane. It's a Super Grain.

We are a culture obsessed with rankings. From the 50 Most Beautiful People to the 10 Best Places to Live, we are bombarded with lists that t...

When the Moon Hits Your Eye, Like A Big Broccolini Pie, That's Amore

When Jeanne from Cook Sister! announced that pies would be the topic for this month’s Waiter, there’s something in my… food blog event, I k...

Stir Your Risotto Less, Work Your Glutes More

When we first moved to Southern California, we thought we were in pretty good shape; turns out that “pretty good shape” is a relative phrase...

So Easy, a Meteorologist Can Do It

Be a meteorologist in Southern California. It’s the ultimate job. Much like Newman’s coveted postal route in Hawaii, “where the air is so de...

Forget Chocolate, Eat Fennel on Valentine's Day

As a little girl, my favorite candies were Twizzlers ® and black jelly beans. Every Easter I would pick all the black jelly beans out of the...

Of Yankees and Yams

I always thought yams and sweet potatoes were different vegetables. A few years ago a farmer taught me differently. We had just moved to Nor...